Wizards' Jordan Poole to Come Off Bench vs. Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, Nuggets

Washington Wizards interim head coach Brian Keefe told reporters that Jordan Poole was being moved to the bench ahead of Thursday evening's matchup with the Denver Nuggets.

Keefe noted the move was about "helping the group improve as a whole" and that Poole operated at his best with the ball in his hands, running the offense.

"It's actually a credit to Jordan. He's had one of our highest net ratings since I've taken over and I want to see more of that," he added.

Poole, 24, has started all 52 games he's appeared in this season, sharing the backcourt with point guard Tyus Jones. That duo has not fared well, as the Wizards are outscored by 9.1 points per 100 possessions while they share the court, per NBA.com.

Granted, Poole has a minus-10.6 net rating on the year, so it's been a struggle for the team in general during his minutes. And it's never good when you're named the Shaqtin' A Fool midseason MVP:

To be fair, it's been a struggle for the 9-45 Wizards in general. Most of the league's cellar-dwelling teams at least have the hope of developing bright young talents. These Wizards are in the very early stages of that rebuild and do have some legitimately solid veterans in Poole, Jones and Kyle Kuzma.

So it will be fascinating to see how Poole—who is averaging 15.6 points and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 40 percent from the field and 30.3 percent from three on the season—responds to the new role.

It won't be an unfamiliar one. Poole regularly headlined the second unit for the Golden State Warriors when the team was at full strength during his four seasons in the Bay Area. Coming off the bench behind players like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson is far different than potentially sitting in favor of rookie Bilal Coulibaly or third-year wing Corey Kispert, however.

For the Wizards, the move makes sense. It will give them a longer look at how a young, promising player fits with the starting lineup while potentially granting Poole more freedom to run the offense on the second unit.

Still, it's never a great sign when you have to move the guy in the first season of a four-year, $128 million deal to the bench. At the moment, that's looking like a pretty bad contract the Wizards are going to be stuck with for its duration.